Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Paul Ryan nominated as next Speaker of the House

House Republicans on Wednesday nominated Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin to be the 62nd speaker of the House, turning to the young chairman of the Ways and Means Committee to replace John A. Boehner of Ohio, who was driven into retirement by an angry uprising of conservative hard-liners.

Republicans said the vote was 200 to 43 over Representative Daniel Webster of Florida, Mr. Ryan’s closest rival.

Although Mr. Ryan was short of the 218 votes needed to win Thursday’s floor vote, supporters said he would pick up backers now that he is the nominee. "Anything over 218 wins, I think we’ll be well above that," said Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma.

Mr. Ryan ultimately said he would accept the nomination but only if his colleagues rallied behind him, which they did last week. Although the Freedom Caucus [aka the ratpack who deposed Boehner] did not formally endorse him, a majority of its members said they would vote for him.